South Korea's Supreme Court upheld a seven‑year prison sentence for former President Yoon Suk‑yeol, the first Supreme Court verdict against him concerning a martial‑law case. The sentence covered obstruction and other crimes linked to Yoon’s 2024 martial‑law declaration. Former justice minister Park Sung‑jae was also sentenced to 25 years in prison for his role in the same declaration.

The Seoul High Court in April increased Yoon’s prison term from five to seven years after finding him guilty of additional charges (gdelt). The Supreme Court said there was no misunderstanding of any legal interpretations in the rulings (dw) and upheld that Yoon was also guilty of fabricating documents, failing to follow the legal process required to impose martial law, and spreading false information to foreign media outlets (gdelt).

Yoon’s lawyers said they would seek a ruling from the Constitutional Court and would challenge the constitutionality of the Supreme Court ruling (gdelt). Yoon insisted his martial‑law declaration was motivated by the public interest (france24). The December 2024 martial‑law declaration lasted about six hours and was voted down in an emergency session (scmp).

Park Sung‑jae was found guilty of involvement in “insurrection” (scmp). He ordered ministry officials to assess detention capacities at correctional facilities to prepare for arrests of politicians (apnews.com) and instructed officials to consider sending prosecutors to Yoon’s martial‑law command to support possible investigations into political opponents (apnews.com).

An ex‑presidential secretary was sentenced to 1½ years in prison for drafting a false martial‑law document (yna). Yin Seok‑yue was sentenced to seven years in prison (bluesky). The security department acted to prevent South Korean law‑enforcement agencies from arresting him after the emergency martial‑law incident (bluesky).